Euobserver.com

The European Commission's chief spokesperson Eric Mamer said there would be no negotiations with the Belarus regime, noting that its foreseen "technical talks" announced on Wednesday will deal purely with repatriations of trapped migrants and asylum seekers. Those talks will be held between Belarus and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration. "There is no question of negotiating with the Lukashenko regime," said Mamer.

The Polish army detained hundreds of migrants who crossed the Belarus border, and accused Belarusian special forces of masterminding the operation, France24 writes. Around 2,000 people, mainly from the Middle East, are estimated to be living rough near the Polish-Belarus border, in dire conditions. G7 foreign ministers on Thursday urged Minsk to end the migrant crisis: "We call on the regime to cease immediately its aggressive and exploitative campaign."

Almost 200 MEPs want to use remote voting rather than attend next week's session in Strasbourg, due to Covid-19 worries. The parliament's senior administrator has instructed staff to follow Belgian four-day home working rules - as has the European Commission.

The European Commission should give greater legal clarity on what terrorism actually means in EU criminal law - to prevent abuses of fundamental rights and discrimination against specific groups, an EU agency has warned.

The EU Commission also decided to extend - for another six months - the relaxation of state-aid rules to help member states cope with the economic fallout from the Covid- pandemic.

Why no price-aggregating website for international trains in Europe? Why is it almost impossible to buy a single ticket for a cross-border train? It's easier to go by plane - and governments are making sure it stays that way.

Regional politics, competing global priorities and, sadly, a deliberate misinformation campaign that seeks to dismantle the agency jeopardise the critical mission of one of the United Nations' true success stories.

The Belgian ministerial concertation committee decided on Wednesday to tighten its measures on rising Covid numbers. From Saturday on, teleworking will be mandatory for at least four days a week. Face masks are mandatory for everyone from 10 years old in on all public places. That also counts for night clubs.

Belarus has begun moving some 1,000 migrants from a camp on the Polish border to a temporary shelter with mattresses, blankets, and food packages in moves trumpeted by its state media and confirmed by Poland. "The camp near Kuźnica is slowly emptying," Polish deputy interior minister Maciej Wąsik said. The EU also pledged €700,000 in aid for the migrants Wednesday after German chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Belarus' president.

Italian MEP Carlo Calenda, founder and leader of the Italian Azione party, has joined the liberal Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, the group announced on Wednesday. He had been sitting with the Socialists & Democrats. Calenda was previously an economy minister and an MEP since 2019. The third-largest group in the parliament, Renew Europe has now 100 MEPs from 23 member states.

Russia's military said it would establish a new paratroop regiment in annexed Crimea, completing a reshuffle of forces announced by defence minister Sergei Shoigu in March, Reuters writes. At the same time, Moscow voiced its objections to a framework agreement under which Ukraine will use British funding to improve its naval capabilities, allowing it to buy missiles and build a navy base on the Sea of Azov.

As Germany registered over 52,000 new infections on Wednesday, chancellor Angela Merkel said that the epidemiological situation was dramatic, Reuters reported. "Everyone who gets vaccinated protects himself and others. And if enough people get vaccinated that is the way out of the pandemic," she said, arguing that it is never too late to take the first jab. Only 68 percent of the German population is fully-vaccinated.

Politicians, human rights organisations and former foreign detainees have raised concerns about major general Ahmed Naser Al-Raisia, a United Arab Emirates candidate running for presidency of the International Police Organisation (Interpol), Deutsche Welle writes. German MPs accuse the major of being "directly involved in human rights violations in a number of high-profile cases." The new head of Interpol will be elected next week.

The Belgian Appeal Court delivered a landmark ruling, in what Kazakhstan's legal representatives described as "one of the biggest frauds in the history of international arbitration."

A new wave of Covid-19 infections has been sweeping through central Europe, where the vaccination rate is generally below the EU average - partly due to low trust in institutions.

A leaked internal document reveals dozens of operational plans to crack down on migrant-smugglers next year, including a target to make over 1,400 arrests - mostly under the aegis of the EU's border agency Frontex.

The European Commission has unveiled a landmark piece of legislation to reduce and reverse the impact of EU consumption on global deforestation, targeting companies selling soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee in the bloc.

Once again, it is time for global progressives to join forces and take the lead in changing the world.

As some politicians, including in the neighbouring countries Serbia and Croatia, ratchet-up their inflammatory rhetoric, the international community is struggling to find a response to escalating tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Italy has opened a fresh investigation into a Chinese buyout of Italian military drone-maker Alpi Aviation in 2018, Reuters reports. Italian authorities were paying "utmost attention" to the matter, a source noted, with the enquiry potentially leading to a scrapping of the deal. EU foreign ministers also discussed tighter "foreign investor screening" in talks on future EU defence strategy on Monday.